West, Central Africa on campaign to end piracy

Experts from 25 member states of the Maritime Organization of West and Central Africa (MOWCA) have been meeting since Tuesday to launch a regional campaign with the theme "cutting piracy from the root."

The meeting is in preparation for the African Union Summit on maritime security and development in Africa that will be held in Lome in October, and whose main objective will be reducing the number of piracy cases to zero in West and Central Africa.

In this regard, the experts are seeking ways and means of preventing piracy acts which have an impact on the economies of the affected countries.

The ongoing meeting is expected to urge the 25 participating nations to enhance cooperation in the fight against maritime piracy.

"Cutting piracy at the source is a major challenge that we must all unite to confront," Togo's Infrastructure and Transport Minister Ninsao Gnofam said during the meeting's opening ceremony.

He noted that the problem of piracy does not recognize national borders or social barriers; it affects every social group across the world.

Gnofam urged participants not to drop their guard against this scourge that affects maritime trade which is estimated to cover 90 percent of the external trade conducted by African states.

MOWCA secretary general Alain Michel Luvambano said maritime piracy is a problem that threatens the entire world.

"Our presidents came up with a solution during the 2013 meeting in Yaounde where we were asked to harmonize our forces to fight against this scourge. This is why MOWCA in collaboration with the Togolese government, decided to organize this meeting to discuss ways to resolve this problem in the sea, especially by cutting off sources of funding of piracy" he said.

"We must secure our maritime borders. We have decided to fight together," Luvambano concluded.

Source : XINHUA